TO LOVE IS NOT SEEING
Julien Mijangos |
from 12 octobre 2012 to 24 septembre 2016
At the moment, we always know what to think. We go to see the works, we rub shoulders with the artist. We share in exhibitions. What do we think ? We know, and then it changes, it comes and goes. But to find words to write, that is another story. It always comes later, always needs doing. Our discussions, what we have already attempted to articulate, helps us some. Such is also the case in the visual arts. For Perrine Lacroix, what needs doing also needs to be stopped. We are caught in flux: all the movements that Perrine Lacroix's work demands, all these role changes we witness, push themselves toward a completion that we crave.
Even when making art at a specific place, there are times we must resolve ourselves to accept that a solution exists! Perrine Lacroix exposes herself to the tough guys, to those who confuse inertia and matter, a state for eternity. I think that much of the work involves confronting limits and then unraveling knots. There is no longer the need to force appearances, and a sort of reversal occurs. The works present themselves as the footprints left from this reversal. You, me, others, we are all brought together. We move, we go see, we interact, and in our anticipation, a kind of joy arises.
Stating that Perrine Lacroix's work takes its form from initial investigations from which it draws its strength, I also stress the often simple nature of what we see in her work, actions and objects. Take for example her work for the prison: "Your attention please." Mirrors are set against the wall, on the ground in the prison's courtyard. A long strip of mirrors, some placed atop others, some not.
Depending on the inclination of the object against the wall, each mirror reflects a part of the sky. The physical properties of this kind of mirror (the "Dibon Mirror") allow it to reflect either laterally or vertically surrounding movements, according to its placed pose. One way or another, if the weather is nice (blue sky with cumulus clouds) you will see the clouds pass. While Perrine Lacroix's eye is not cold, it holds no illusion either. She has placed reflective objects in space, a calm action around a physical phenomenon, one that is permanent, prosaic, and well chosen. It is placed, penned and perhaps even left there, as the visitor's attention softens on the building, in the history, the constructed scene. Not seeing... Somewhat abandoned mirrors that are easily identified within this slightly neglected prison now brought to museum mode, with works reflecting hoped for nervous endings.
Reflections of clouds pass within the mirrors as if in a kind of sleep. The infinitive lies there. One could say that Perrine Lacroix wants to contain things at one ignition point. The role of the visitor is not secondary. In both the accuracy of the proposal and its general behavior there is an elemental strength, unwavering regardless of the conditions, climatic or other. A mirror reflects, that is for certain. I think it is a personal goal of the artist to show things containing tremors. This logically leads to a refinement to the minimum. Visibility, and security for the artist. And then there is relaxation, long and lengthy, with the dimensions of the mirrors playing a large part. There it is.
The prison is open for visits. These mirrors-that-no-matter-what reflect, and that prison-to-visit-despite-itself provoke thoughts on what is accomplished in abandonment. The prison through her eyes. Capturing the image of something suggests, even instigates, its closure, its completion, it placement, its end. Any image creates a notion of end. These are the words of a procedural mind! If the ending affects us in its energy, we do not rest. Perrine Lacroix's images are just that, a kind of a sensor. And indeed it touches something, and someone!
Perrine Lacroix uses view, creating her logic through it. She takes photos and works in space with objects and installations. She also exposes photographs of her installations. It is here that she plays with prolonged endings. This is done in a critical sense, as an accomplice, without coldness and without illusion. View is crucial for her creation. What ends through what I do? What begins? What does continuing mean? How will you remember what you have known? For a steadily decreasing view, the images are a little like streaks, a rhythm of memory and discovery. And so to create the image is not merely to take photos. For example, a frame is first constructed: in the prison yard, in front of the mirrors, were presented the rather old footballs from prison recreation ("The prisoners' footballs," 2012).
Perrine Lacroix has enshrined them in solid metal supports, stable supports similar to those of world globes. She returned them to the courtyard in their new state, fixed and placed. Presented in the prison courtyard, the balls transform the prison into an image, open for viewing.
Frowned upon it is, this contemporary art, the great marketplace of ideas! The one-of-a-kind, the cropped opinion, an act of mastery or the fruits of pure and fortunate fluke ? Visual oxymorons, clever reconciliations. Not seeing... No, Perrine Lacroix's footballs do not partake in a hypothetical race for the original, neither in view nor idea. Perrine Lacroix with her "made image" joins those who say they "have no idea". The original is the bottom rather than the top. Neither smooth nor balanced, the instability is to be reversed. We are amidst a process whose results rely on the means.
It is not an idea that flutters about but rather a work of looking at things, their spaces, their boundaries, including facts found in texts and related references, articles, history. Perrine Lacroix captures sounds, uses information from the places in which she frames her works. She lets herself and her work be threatened by the diversity of views, which lead to confusion of the form, and its dissolution. The situation is unresolved and still there. In one respect, we are made to fail. It is also a dynamic way of positioning oneself. Within a situation, the view is yours, or rather your own is like hers. What do you do? Look on with your eyes? Let the image accompany your view? Being accompanied is often equivalent to being able to be.
In "En los areas" (2012) again, as in the prison, one may wonder what pushes the artist into such tricky situations. Especially in regards to the nature of the collected data and the numerous collective and individual aspects. Perrine Lacroix explains that this story has a shape that closes on itself: the people caught in the fire had come there because of the repression of the Tunisian revolution. The immolation of a man had already been its trigger. The story is tragic, it is knotted like a cramp. In a newspaper article we can read the direct reference (Alaa's room, Emeline Cazi and Elise Vincent, Le Monde, September 21, 2012 ). For me it is simply atrocious, we care so little for the other. Confusion and unrest prevail.
Yet Perrine Lacroix does not hesitate while advancing. First, she repeats the hollow brick wall arranged in staggered rows. This is the kind of ephemeral masonry that lasts indefinitely, used to close off buildings to squatters and allowing air to pass. It is done as a makeshift solution. Hollow bricks split off from each other, stacked with iron that is threaded vertically through the concrete. An open but solid wall. This creates shade. The reconstitution made by Perrine Lacroix is ripped out in the middle. You pass through it. Her perforated walls are not just pretty readymades, objects she has photographed many times. They are hollow. Death looms from a shadowy reality.
And then there is the return to the front lines, to the barricade, Perrine Lacroix's way of coping. For her, an image is a choice of sides. Perspective. Already, for "prisoners' footballs" the globe's base emphasizes the area. The tactic offers an epidermic view on the prison's weathered hexagons and pentagons. The mirrors also oppose their reflective surface of the prison, a thin skin that throws back the view, which diverges. A surface is chosen each time, but the object (ball), place (prison) or event (related in the article) remain intact. This is not recycling. In "en los areas" another installation was built during the brief and efficient masonry construction mentioned above: this time it is in black foam brick, and the visitor can build the exhibition's corridor's wall. It is a whole form, once again, infallible, yet, for that work to succeed, the foam wall must fall. It is safe from danger. Newton and this flexible material provide Perrine Lacroix with the rules of a simple, calm and logical game. Formal, hieratic, elementary and still quite gentle. Yes, Perrine Lacroix softens the ragged ruins!
In accompanying us in what is known and not necessary to repeat, Perrine Lacroix has learned to play with distance. If you do not read the article, you can enjoy the quiet game of building with a set of foam bricks, without even asking yourself if it is sufficient in and of itself. In fact, by "hieratic" I refer to this solution of liberty that belongs to Lacroix. She manages by reversal. The parallelism of the foam wall to the facts is neither strict nor used to override. The bricks do not complement these facts. They are neither obstacle nor competition to them. Instead, they create a picture for the viewer, one that can survive what he or she knows, and when what we know accompanies and lengthens our knowledge, we are allowed to last rather than to conclude.
Even when making art at a specific place, there are times we must resolve ourselves to accept that a solution exists! Perrine Lacroix exposes herself to the tough guys, to those who confuse inertia and matter, a state for eternity. I think that much of the work involves confronting limits and then unraveling knots. There is no longer the need to force appearances, and a sort of reversal occurs. The works present themselves as the footprints left from this reversal. You, me, others, we are all brought together. We move, we go see, we interact, and in our anticipation, a kind of joy arises.
Stating that Perrine Lacroix's work takes its form from initial investigations from which it draws its strength, I also stress the often simple nature of what we see in her work, actions and objects. Take for example her work for the prison: "Your attention please." Mirrors are set against the wall, on the ground in the prison's courtyard. A long strip of mirrors, some placed atop others, some not.
Depending on the inclination of the object against the wall, each mirror reflects a part of the sky. The physical properties of this kind of mirror (the "Dibon Mirror") allow it to reflect either laterally or vertically surrounding movements, according to its placed pose. One way or another, if the weather is nice (blue sky with cumulus clouds) you will see the clouds pass. While Perrine Lacroix's eye is not cold, it holds no illusion either. She has placed reflective objects in space, a calm action around a physical phenomenon, one that is permanent, prosaic, and well chosen. It is placed, penned and perhaps even left there, as the visitor's attention softens on the building, in the history, the constructed scene. Not seeing... Somewhat abandoned mirrors that are easily identified within this slightly neglected prison now brought to museum mode, with works reflecting hoped for nervous endings.
Reflections of clouds pass within the mirrors as if in a kind of sleep. The infinitive lies there. One could say that Perrine Lacroix wants to contain things at one ignition point. The role of the visitor is not secondary. In both the accuracy of the proposal and its general behavior there is an elemental strength, unwavering regardless of the conditions, climatic or other. A mirror reflects, that is for certain. I think it is a personal goal of the artist to show things containing tremors. This logically leads to a refinement to the minimum. Visibility, and security for the artist. And then there is relaxation, long and lengthy, with the dimensions of the mirrors playing a large part. There it is.
The prison is open for visits. These mirrors-that-no-matter-what reflect, and that prison-to-visit-despite-itself provoke thoughts on what is accomplished in abandonment. The prison through her eyes. Capturing the image of something suggests, even instigates, its closure, its completion, it placement, its end. Any image creates a notion of end. These are the words of a procedural mind! If the ending affects us in its energy, we do not rest. Perrine Lacroix's images are just that, a kind of a sensor. And indeed it touches something, and someone!
Perrine Lacroix uses view, creating her logic through it. She takes photos and works in space with objects and installations. She also exposes photographs of her installations. It is here that she plays with prolonged endings. This is done in a critical sense, as an accomplice, without coldness and without illusion. View is crucial for her creation. What ends through what I do? What begins? What does continuing mean? How will you remember what you have known? For a steadily decreasing view, the images are a little like streaks, a rhythm of memory and discovery. And so to create the image is not merely to take photos. For example, a frame is first constructed: in the prison yard, in front of the mirrors, were presented the rather old footballs from prison recreation ("The prisoners' footballs," 2012).
Perrine Lacroix has enshrined them in solid metal supports, stable supports similar to those of world globes. She returned them to the courtyard in their new state, fixed and placed. Presented in the prison courtyard, the balls transform the prison into an image, open for viewing.
Frowned upon it is, this contemporary art, the great marketplace of ideas! The one-of-a-kind, the cropped opinion, an act of mastery or the fruits of pure and fortunate fluke ? Visual oxymorons, clever reconciliations. Not seeing... No, Perrine Lacroix's footballs do not partake in a hypothetical race for the original, neither in view nor idea. Perrine Lacroix with her "made image" joins those who say they "have no idea". The original is the bottom rather than the top. Neither smooth nor balanced, the instability is to be reversed. We are amidst a process whose results rely on the means.
It is not an idea that flutters about but rather a work of looking at things, their spaces, their boundaries, including facts found in texts and related references, articles, history. Perrine Lacroix captures sounds, uses information from the places in which she frames her works. She lets herself and her work be threatened by the diversity of views, which lead to confusion of the form, and its dissolution. The situation is unresolved and still there. In one respect, we are made to fail. It is also a dynamic way of positioning oneself. Within a situation, the view is yours, or rather your own is like hers. What do you do? Look on with your eyes? Let the image accompany your view? Being accompanied is often equivalent to being able to be.
In "En los areas" (2012) again, as in the prison, one may wonder what pushes the artist into such tricky situations. Especially in regards to the nature of the collected data and the numerous collective and individual aspects. Perrine Lacroix explains that this story has a shape that closes on itself: the people caught in the fire had come there because of the repression of the Tunisian revolution. The immolation of a man had already been its trigger. The story is tragic, it is knotted like a cramp. In a newspaper article we can read the direct reference (Alaa's room, Emeline Cazi and Elise Vincent, Le Monde, September 21, 2012 ). For me it is simply atrocious, we care so little for the other. Confusion and unrest prevail.
Yet Perrine Lacroix does not hesitate while advancing. First, she repeats the hollow brick wall arranged in staggered rows. This is the kind of ephemeral masonry that lasts indefinitely, used to close off buildings to squatters and allowing air to pass. It is done as a makeshift solution. Hollow bricks split off from each other, stacked with iron that is threaded vertically through the concrete. An open but solid wall. This creates shade. The reconstitution made by Perrine Lacroix is ripped out in the middle. You pass through it. Her perforated walls are not just pretty readymades, objects she has photographed many times. They are hollow. Death looms from a shadowy reality.
And then there is the return to the front lines, to the barricade, Perrine Lacroix's way of coping. For her, an image is a choice of sides. Perspective. Already, for "prisoners' footballs" the globe's base emphasizes the area. The tactic offers an epidermic view on the prison's weathered hexagons and pentagons. The mirrors also oppose their reflective surface of the prison, a thin skin that throws back the view, which diverges. A surface is chosen each time, but the object (ball), place (prison) or event (related in the article) remain intact. This is not recycling. In "en los areas" another installation was built during the brief and efficient masonry construction mentioned above: this time it is in black foam brick, and the visitor can build the exhibition's corridor's wall. It is a whole form, once again, infallible, yet, for that work to succeed, the foam wall must fall. It is safe from danger. Newton and this flexible material provide Perrine Lacroix with the rules of a simple, calm and logical game. Formal, hieratic, elementary and still quite gentle. Yes, Perrine Lacroix softens the ragged ruins!
In accompanying us in what is known and not necessary to repeat, Perrine Lacroix has learned to play with distance. If you do not read the article, you can enjoy the quiet game of building with a set of foam bricks, without even asking yourself if it is sufficient in and of itself. In fact, by "hieratic" I refer to this solution of liberty that belongs to Lacroix. She manages by reversal. The parallelism of the foam wall to the facts is neither strict nor used to override. The bricks do not complement these facts. They are neither obstacle nor competition to them. Instead, they create a picture for the viewer, one that can survive what he or she knows, and when what we know accompanies and lengthens our knowledge, we are allowed to last rather than to conclude.